What Makes You Beautiful
by PrincessTadashi
Summary: Ezra is still trying to get over his breakup with his ex-band member, Jai Kell, and despite Sabine's urgings for him to try to find someone new, he just can't. But when he and his adopted siblings, the Ghost Crew, go to perform at a local pizza venue, he runs into teen genius, Hiro Hamada, and finds that maybe, just maybe, his heart is finally ready to move on. (Ezra/Hiro)


Three months. It had been three months since the breakup. At least it had been amicable. They'd already been growing apart when Jai had had to leave to go stay with his sick mother. The long distance had just been too much strain on their already fragile relationship, and they'd mutually agreed to call things off. Still, three years of friendship in the band and one of dating wasn't something someone could easily get over, so was it any wonder that Ezra Bridger was hesitant to get back into the dating pool?

It wasn't like his adopted sister, Sabine, hadn't tried to fix him up with someone. Heaven knew she'd tried. But Ezra just never felt the same spark with any of them that he'd felt with his old boyfriend.

"Ez, you literally have girls throwing themselves at your feet!" Sabine would tell him after shows.

"I'm not really that into girls," Ezra would answers dryly-despite being bi, he still definitely preferred guys.

"Fine, fine!" Sabine would sigh. "Then there are plenty of cute guys out there too! You literally have your pick of the entire sea! Just find someone to hook up with and you'll feel totally better about things!"

"Sabine, I don't 'hook up' with people!" Ezra would groan. His sister, as nice as she was, didn't seem to understand the fact that he didn't have sex just for pleasure. He only did it with someone he really cared about-Jai had been his first, after six months of dating, and his only. Maybe that's the reason he'd taken the breakup so hard. To him, having sex with someone meant something-a commitment to see things through to the end. But apparently Jai hadn't felt the same way. Either that or maybe sex had been their way to try to salvage the relationship that both of them could tell, even if they hadn't been willing to admit it at the time, was going under. Ezra hoped that wasn't the case-that his first time hadn't been some desperate attempt to get affection. But the idea still haunted him. Whenever those or a million other dark thoughts would come to plague him, he'd do what he always did-let himself get lost in his music.

Ezra had always known that he was a pretty talented singer-it's what set him apart from the other kids in the orphanage he'd been stuck in when his birth parents had disappeared. Singing was what gave him hope even as he got older and could feel his chances of his parents ever being found followed quickly by his chances of ever getting adopted because he was getting "too old" to be considered by most slipping away. And yet it was also thanks to his voice that he'd ended up in the family he was in. Kanan and Hera, his adopted parents, had come to the orphanage looking for another child to round out their family which already consisted of an adopted son and daughter (Hera had unfortunately found out that she was sterile shortly after marrying Kanan, but that hadn't stopped them from following their dream of having a big family and providing some love and affection to some kids who really needed it.) They'd actually been looking to adopt a younger child, but then they'd found Ezra singing in the hallway while performing his chores and they'd stopped to talk to him. They quickly formed a bond and, much to the then eight-year-old's great surprise, they'd ended up adopting him, bringing him home to meet Sabine and his new adopted brother, Zeb.

While he was still young Hera had gotten Ezra involved in the church children's choir, feeling that his special gift needed to be shared with the rest of the world. When he got older, though, and Sabine's years of guitar lessons and Zeb's forever tinkering around in the garage with an old abandoned drum set he'd found started paying off, the siblings had gotten the idea of starting their own band (later joined by Ezra's then best friend and now ex-boyfriend, Jai). To begin with, it was mainly just performances for their family and friends (often, to everyone's great amusement, accompanied by the howling of the family dog, Chopper), but they'd managed to secure a gig playing at a local pizza restaurant and things had taken off pretty quickly from there. They hadn't been picked up by a record label or anything (although they still had hopes), and they had the flaw that none of them were particularly good at writing song lyrics and so mainly they were just a cover band. Still, they'd gotten a pretty big following in the local area and online, and it wasn't uncommon for things to be standing room only at the venues they played (still mainly just small pizza places and the like, but they were hoping to try some of the smaller concert halls or theaters in the area if they could make enough off of tickets by this summer.)

That's what Ezra was supposed to be doing right now-getting ready for a show, not thinking about his ex. It wasn't until Sabine came along and whacked him lightly on the back of his head to get his attention, though, that he actually snapped out of it.

"C'mon, sad sack, get a move on or we're not going to have time to get everything set up for the show!" she tells him. "And you remember what happened at Joey's the one night that we didn't get to do mic checks-do you want a repeat of that performance?"

"No!" Ezra protests, rubbing the back of his head and doing his best to look annoyed but knowing that she had a good point.

"Zeb's already waiting for us in the van-if you don't shake a leg and get out there now it's not my fault if he bites your head off for wasting his gas and time!" Sabine answers, already halfway out the door.

"Fine, fine!" Ezra sighs before standing up and following her out. He had to concentrate on the show right now. There was always plenty of time for sulking when he got home tonight.

Tonight's show was a new venue, a pizza restaurant that had just opened up by one of the city's big universities, the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology. Already it was pretty popular with the college students who attended, and while the band's audience mainly consisted of teens and pre-teens, they were hoping that maybe this could be where they started picking up an older following (after all, Zeb and Sabine already college age while Ezra was one year away from graduating high school.) Also, since it was just starting out, the place had the added benefit of, , allowing groups to come and play for free in an attempt to drum up business, and free was just the price this group loved.

Set up wasn't too bad-the stage area was a bit small but they managed to get all of their equipment in place without much difficulty. The owners of the restaurant were kind enough to have closed the shop for an hour while they got ready, opening back up about half an hour before the show started. There was already a small line waiting outside by the time the doors opened, and both restaurant patrons and fans of the group came streaming in. Ezra didn't want to get in the way of the owners' business, but unfortunately there wasn't really a backstage area so instead he chose an out-of-the-way table near the back corner to sit at while he waited for showtime.

He might not have even noticed him if the owners hadn't offered him a glass and told him that he was welcome to whatever he wanted from the drink machine. Ezra had sworn off soda years ago-it was killer on the vocal chords-but staying hydrated before a show was important so he'd decided to go get some water to sip on until it was time to start. He was just finishing filling up his cup and turning around when he found himself bumping into someone else, the water splashing all over the other person.

"Oh my gosh, I am _so_ sorry!" he cries, instantly reaching for napkins from the dispenser next to the drink machine.

"It's okay," the stranger answers in a slightly resigned voice, accepting the napkins from him. "Trust me, this is pretty much how my whole night has been going."

Ezra hadn't really paid much attention to the other person's appearance before, too concerned with fixing his mistake, but something about the speaker's tone made him feel even guiltier for making an apparently sucky evening even suckier, and he looks up to ask if there was anything he could do to help-

"Whoa." Ezra hoped later that that quiet gasp had been inside his head instead of out loud. But even if it hadn't been, it wasn't like he could have helped it. This other guy was cute-majorly cute. He looked to be about Ezra's own age, but there was something still adorably childlike about him, from the mess of raven hair that looked like it hadn't been combed in a week (if not longer) to the large almond-shaped brown eyes to the tiny tooth gap between his two front teeth that somehow Ezra wanted to know what it would feel like under his tongue-

 _Whoa, back up!_ he mentally chides himself-he'd just met this guy, like, two seconds ago and was probably still in major hot water (almost literally) with him. This was no time to be thinking about making out with him! Where was his head even going? He was still trying to get over Jai, he wasn't ready to start crushing on someone new, especially not a total stranger!

"You okay?"

Ezra flushes as he sees the part confused part worried look on the other guy's face-great, to top it all off he'd just been standing here for who knew how long just staring at the guy like an idiot! He probably thought he was either stupid or a major creep by now. What a way to make a first impression…

"S-Sorry!" Ezra apologizes, grabbing some more napkins and awkwardly trying to help mop up some of the mess he'd caused. "I-I swear I didn't see you there!"

"It's fine." The other man sighs and slightly rolls his eyes.

"It's not fine, I just doused you! You're going to have to sit in those wet clothes all night!"

"Meh, I think it mostly just got on my labcoat, and that's fortunately water resistant," the other guy answers, shrugging it off and actually offering Ezra the first semblance he'd seen that night of a smile. It was slightly crooked, if a bit hesitant, but the teen couldn't help but think it was possibly the most beautiful smile he'd ever seen.

"Dare I ask why you're wearing a labcoat?" Ezra asks, partly just to try to keep the conversation going and partly because he was honestly curious.

"I'm a mad scientist, I just got back from stitching cadavers together to make a monster," the other man deadpans.

"...Seriously?" Ezra honestly couldn't tell if he was joking or not.

"No, of course not!" The other guy rolls his eyes, smirking slightly. "My bro and his boyfriend just dragged me out of our lab to get some food-they claim that eating takeaway every night isn't 'healthy', but aren't college students supposed to live on ramen or something?"

"You're a college student?" Ezra asks, eyes going wide-maybe he'd completely misjudged this guy's age.

"Yep. Junior at SFIT," the other man replies.

"How old are you?" Ezra knew that maybe it was a rude question but it just kind of slipped out.

"Sixteen," the other man answers, his expression slightly guarded.

"Sixteen? How are you a college junior at sixt-Wait a minute! Oh my gosh, I've seen you on the news! You're Hiro Hamada, aren't you?" Ezra gasps, remembering the stories that were sometimes run about the teenage genius.

"Yes," Hiro answers shortly, seeming, if possible, to grow even more agitated. "Do you want to make something of it?"

His tone voiced a challenge-a challenge Ezra recognized from his own experiences with bullies over the years. Being different easily made you a target, and being a genius had probably gotten the other teen a lot of grief in the past. To think that anyone would try to hurt someone for something they couldn't control and that was, quite frankly, an amazing gift was completely disgusting and it somehow lit a protective fire inside of the blue haired teen.

"No, not at all!" he says firmly. "Actually, I think that it's majorly cool all the stuff you've been doing! I wish I was half as smart as you, it would make my life a million times easier!"

"It doesn't always make things easier…" Hiro answers slowly, although there was a bit of a hesitant smile twitching at the edge of his lips.

"Doesn't make it any less amazing!" Ezra declares.

"Thanks…" Hiro ducked his head slightly and, was the other teen imagining it or was he actually blushing slightly?

"Of course!" Ezra gives him his warmest, friendliest smile. "So, what brings you here tonight?"

Oh, shoot, Hiro had already answered that question earlier when he said that his brother had brought him, hadn't he? Great, now he was back to sounding like an idiot!

Still, fortunately the other teen didn't seem to mind. "Like I said, overprotective brother and his boyfriend dragging me out for some 'fresh air'," he answers, rolling his eyes again. "I was okay with it when it was just stepping out to grab some food and we'd be back in, like, half an hour. But now it turns out they're actually kidnapping me for the night-apparently there's some band playing here tonight and they're making me stay around for the show."

Ezra was thinking that maybe now was the time to introduce himself as the lead singer for the band, but before he could Hiro continued, "Waste of time, as far as I'm concerned. I've never understood people's fascination with music, except maybe Fall Out Boy."

Okay, that was a bit… harsh. Still, Ezra wasn't going to be deterred since he'd gotten this far. "Well, maybe the band tonight will surprise you," he says diplomatically.

"I doubt it," Hiro deadpans. "My aunt owns a cafe and she's gotten different groups in there in the past and I've never found anything that even came close to impressing me. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with people who enjoy music, it's just not my thing."

 _How could someone not like music?!_ Ezra thinks. Still, if anything, instead of turning him off, Hiro's apparent lack of appreciation for the musical arts was only making him all the more determined to impress him.

"How about I make you a deal-keep an open mind and, if you decide after listening to them that you still don't like music, then I'll pay for your pizza," Ezra finally says.

"That seems like a bet that's a bit unfair, given you're almost guaranteed to lose," Hiro answers before humming thoughtfully. "Still, free pizza is tempting… All right, fine, you're on!"

"Awesome!" Ezra grins at him. "Just remember, you have to keep an open mind-no fair judging them before you even hear them!"

"Fine, fine, I swear I'll keep an open mind," Hiro chuckles-and there was that adorable smile again! Ezra was doing his best not to completely melt under it, but it was hard not to.

"Wait a minute, we've established what I get if I win, but what about if you win?" the other teen suddenly says. "I mean, not that I believe for a second that I'm going to lose, but I'd rather know what's at stake on the extremely slim chance that I do."

"Well…" Ezra licks his lips, thinking hard. A lot of idea flew into his head-Hiro's number, maybe a date? Still, that might be a bit too forward (especially when he wasn't fully sure that he was ready to step into another relationship just yet even though he seemed to be falling hard and fast for this guy.) Finally he answers, "If I win, you let me buy you dessert."

"...How does that count as a win for you?" Hiro asks, frowning in confusion. "Shouldn't I be buying you dessert?"

Okay, so apparently the true nature of the dessert invitation had completely gone over the teen genius' head. Still, this was close enough, so Ezra agrees, "Sure. We can go with that."

"Don't get your heart too set on anything, though, 'cause I'm totally not losing this bet!" Hiro tells him playfully, and something about the way that he seemed to be actually loosening up made Ezra's heart pound just a tiny bit faster.

"We'll see," is all he answers simply, though.

"So, I'd probably better get back to my brother," Hiro says, rolling his eyes slightly. "Otherwise he's probably going to start teasing me, saying that I was flirting with you or something."

"F-Flirting with me?" Ezra's cheeks instantly flush. "W-Why would he think-?"

"Just because he's got a boyfriend, he thinks everyone else in the world needs to find 'true love' or something," Hiro answers in a tired voice. "I'm super glad he's 'back from the dead' and all, but he seriously needs to stop meddling in my personal life!"

Okay, so none of that had made much sense, but Ezra was still caught up in the question of whether or not Hiro was actually attempting to flirt with him. He was just about to try to stammer out some sort of question in hopes of getting more clarification when suddenly he felt himself being grabbed by the back of his collar.

"Ez, c'mon, we've got a show to do!" Sabine says, starting to drag him towards the stage. "You can flirt with your new boyfriend later!"

"Bean!" Ezra protests, blushing even brighter red.

"W-Wait!" Hiro's eyes go wide with shock. "Y-You're in the band that's playing tonight?"

"Yep," Ezra agrees with a slight smile, giving him a tiny mock salute even as his sister continues to haul him across the restaurant. "See you after the show to settle our bet!"

He was too far away by then to really hear Hiro's reaction, if there even was one, but Sabine whispers in his ear, "Nice. Getting to know the guy and then hitting him with your rockstar status? Smooth move, little bro!"

"I-It's not like that!" Ezra protests, even as they climb the stairs to the tiny stage.

"Sure it's not!" Sabine chuckles, playfully shoving him towards the mic. "Just get your head in the game, Romeo!"

"Right…" Ezra shakes his head slightly before putting a smile and forcing himself to focus on the task at hand-they had a show to do, after all, and he wasn't about to disappoint their fans.

"Hey everyone!" he says, waving to the crowd. "I'm Ezra, and this is the Ghost Crew!"

They were met with cheers as the group launched into their first number, "It's Always a Good Time" by Owl City-starting off the show with something high energy was a must in order to get the crowd pumped, and, if the shouts and claps when the song comes to an end were any sign, the magic formula was still working. The band went through about five more songs, Ezra easily getting lost in the music. Still, in between numbers he scanned the room-it was so crowded that it was hard to pick out an individual face, but he couldn't help but want to find Hiro and see how he was reacting to the music. It was right before their last number before the break that he finally spotted him, sitting at a table that was surprisingly near the stage. There were two other guys with him-one tall with dark hair mostly hidden under a baseball cap, the other with almost shoulder length blond hair and a beanie of some sort. After a moment of observation he decided that the one in the cap must be Hiro's brother given they looked the most alike. Both of the other guys were smiling, holding hands on the table and obviously enjoying themselves. Hiro was… Honestly impossible to read. It was like he was purposefully keeping his expression blank to keep Ezra from knowing what he was thinking or like he was trying to play some sort of mind game with him. Well, if it was a game he wanted, two could definitely play it!

Ezra couldn't help but grin as Zeb taps out to beat for the beginning of the next song-oh yes, this would be absolutely perfect! Usually the blue haired teen avoided making too much eye contact with any one person in the audience-as much as he tried to connect with everyone, he never wanted to give someone the wrong idea, especially during romantic songs. That was an easy one-way ticket to awkward advances after the show and the potential for stalkers (his dad, as a police officer, had actually had to help him and his siblings shut a few of those down over the years.) But tonight he was sure that he knew exactly who he wanted sing this song to and he wanted him to know he meant every word of it.

" _You're insecure, don't know what for. You're turning heads when you walk through the door_ ," he starts, making sure to make eye contact with Hiro. " _Don't need makeup to cover up. Being the way that you are is enough. Everyone else in the room can see it, everyone else but you_."

The other teen seemed to be fighting hard to keep his expression neutral, but he couldn't prevent a tiny bit of blush from appearing on his cheeks.

Enthralled by his apparent success, Ezra launches into the chorus with full energy. " _Baby you light up my world like nobody else. The way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed. But when you smile at the ground it ain't hard to tell, you don't know, oh oh, you don't know you're beautiful!_ "

By now the crowd was cheering, and Ezra grins when he sees Hiro's brother enthusiastically nudging the teen, saying something that Ezra couldn't quite make out but that made the boy duck his head in embarrassment.

" _If only you saw what I can see, you'd understand why I want you so desperately. Right now I'm looking at you and I can't believe you don't know, oh oh, you don't know you're beautiful! Oh-oh oh, that's what makes you beautiful!"_

Ezra finished off the chorus and dared to take things a step further, taking his mic out of the stand and making his way off the stage and heading towards Hiro's table, never taking his eyes off of him. " _So c-come on. You got it wrong. To prove I'm right, I put it in a song. I don't know why you're being shy, and turn away when I look into your eye-eye-eyes."_

Much like the person in the song, Hiro was obviously avoiding making eye contact with him, but the bright red blush on his cheeks and the fact that he seemed to be biting down hard on his lip to hide the beginnings of a smile said it all. Ezra couldn't resist-maybe he was pushing his luck, but he stayed at the table for the rest of the chorus, putting every emotion he was feeling into the song before finally heading back up to the stage for the big finish.

"Ezra, NICE!" Sabine cheers for him when the song ends and the break is announced, punching him not-so-lightly on the shoulder. "I didn't know you had it in you!"

"I didn't either…" Ezra admits, blushing slightly-wow, had he actually just done that?

"So I guess this means you're over Jai, huh?" Sabine playfully ruffles his hair.

"I… Maybe not fully," Ezra answers. "I mean, he's still one of my best friends. But… I think maybe I'm ready to move on and give romance another chance."

"The fact that you totally just sang that song to a guy? I'd say you're totally ready!" Sabine agrees eagerly. "Now get moving so you can go talk to him before the break is over!"

"Knock 'im dead, tiger," Zeb, who had apparently been listening in to the conversation, adds with a wry smile.

"Thanks, guys!" Ezra grins back at them before hurrying down off the stage to find Hiro.

To his slight surprise, he found the other teen waiting for him at the bottom of the steps instead of back at his table.

"Oh, um, hi!" Ezra found himself blushing slightly, suddenly not sure what to say.

"Hi yourself…" Hiro answers, not quite meeting his eyes.

"So, um…" Ezra awkwardly rubs the back of his neck. "W-What did you think of the show so far?"

"Well, it's not over yet, apparently," Hiro replies slowly. "And I'm still not a big fan of music. Plus the lyrics of that last song were totally corny and obviously written to get a bunch of estrogen filled teenagers to swoon over the band who wrote them."

"O-Oh…" Ezra honestly wasn't sure how he was supposed to respond to that. "So… You didn't like the song?"

"I didn't say that," Hiro answers, finally allowing himself a small smile. "Corny as the lyrics might be, I didn't say they weren't effective when the right person is singing them."

Ezra felt his heart leap up in his chest-that sounded like maybe he had had a success! Still, he was getting a lot of mixed messages here and he needed to make things clear. "S-So, what you're saying is…?" he says uncertainly.

"Keep it up for the second half and maybe I will be buying you that dessert after all," Hiro replies with a crooked smile.

"R-Really?" Ezra beams, heart soaring.

"I said, 'maybe'." Hiro answers with a tiny smirk. He starts to turn away before suddenly rounding on him again and adding, "And, for the record, 'Immortals' is still on the top of my list of best songs ever made. I'd be interested to see if you could pull it off."

"Is that another bet?" Ezra asks, raising an eyebrow.

"It could be..." Hiro replies, his tone slightly playful now.

"And what are the stakes?" Ezra says, heart pounding slightly in his chest.

"If you actually do a good job, maybe I'll get you another dessert," Hiro answers with a slight smile before his expression turns more serious. "And if you don't, I'm dragging you back to my place and making you listen to every Fall Out Boy song ever written until you learn to do justice to their music!"

"Either of those sounds almost like a date…" Ezra tells him, keeping his tone light but knowing that lot weighed on the other teens' reply.

"If you're lucky, maybe they will be," Hiro tells him, his eyes sparkling a bit mischievously. Then he turns and walks away, disappearing into the crowd.

For a moment, Ezra stares after him, still trying to process what had just happened. Then a grin crosses his face as Hiro's words set in and he pumps his fist in the air. Yes! He'd actually managed to score a semi-date with the other teen! It wasn't official, but still! It was something! Hiro had even actually seemed to be flirting with him! And, as the blue haired teen heads back up onto the stage to rejoin his band and give them a slight update on the set list for the second half, he had the feeling deep in his chest that maybe this was the start of something amazing.


End file.
